White Mane
Encyclopedia
White Mane is a 1953 short film directed by award-winning French
filmmaker Albert Lamorisse
.
The forty-seven minute short, filmed on location in the marshes of Camargue
, France
, won numerous awards on its release, including the Short Film Palme d'Or
Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival
. The film also became popular with children and was marketed for them. The story tells a fable of how a young boy gentles an untamable wild white stallion named White Mane.
).
A group of ranchers capture the wild stallion and place him in a corral. Yet White Mane escapes. A boy named Folco (Alain Emery), who lives with his fisherman grandfather, watches intently as White Mane escapes, and he dreams of one day handling White Mane. The ranchers once again try to capture White Mane and fail. Folco asks the men if he can have the white horse. Yes, says one of the men, "but first you have to catch him, but your fish will grow wings before you can manage that."
Later Folco comes across White Mane in the marshes, and he tries to rope him. However, White Mane gallops and drags Folco in the water for quite a while. Folco refuses to let go of the rope and almost passes out. White Mane relents and the two become friends.
White Mane returns to his herd and another horse challenges him for dominance. White Mane loses the fight and returns to join the boy.
The ranchers return and try to spook White Mane by setting fire to the area he and his herd live in. Folco jumps on White Mane (for the first time) and rides him bareback across the marshes of Camargue, over the sparse dunes to the sea. The ranchers give chase and surround them, but they refuse to be caught. With Folco on his back, White Mane rides into the sea. The film ends as the narrator states that White Mane took Folco to an island where horses and children can be friends forever.
region in southeast France
. For centuries, possibly thousands of years, these small horses have lived wild in the harsh environment of the wetlands of the Rhône
delta
, the Camargue marshes, developing the stamina, hardiness and agility for which they are known today. They are the traditional mount of the gardians – Camargue "cowboys."
Camargue horses galloping through water, as does Crin Blanc in the film, are a popular and romantic image of the region.
; specifically the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), Bouches-du-Rhône
, France, a marsh area located south of Arles
, between the Mediterranean Sea
and the two branches of the Rhône river
delta
.
When the picture was re-released in late 2007 by Janus Films
, the film critic for The New York Times
, Terrence Rafferty, discussed the film and its importance, writing "[it] is among the world’s most famous and most honored films for children... But kids’ stuff [it is] not... The tone of [the] film is that of open mouthed wonder." In White Mane, Rafferty wrote, "you sense, as in few other films, the real terrors of nature... And Lamorisse, [the] movie show, really was a remarkable artist: one of the cinema’s best poets and a fearless explorer of the scary and exhilarating outbacks of the imagination."
In a review in The Washington Post
, critic Philip Kennicott was cynical about it, yet liked the mise en scène
, writing "there are perfectly worthy reasons to keep [the film] in circulation. Visually, [it is] masterful." However, Kennicott argues that the film takes place in a world of lies. He wrote, "A boy and his horse are hunted down by adult ranchers – while a narrator makes vague promises of a better world to come. The beautiful imagery of [the film] is deployed in support of a moral system – a blunt promise of rewards for good behavior – not much more sophisticated than that of Santa and the Easter Bunny. Ah, the time-honored tradition of adults indoctrinating kids in a world-view that will lead only to bitter disappointment, unless the kids refuse to grow up."
, and is often aired on the free cable television channel that promotes the fine arts to the largest audience possible.
In late 2007, the film, along with director Albert Lamorisse's later classic short The Red Balloon
(1956), was restored and re-released by Janus Films
in limited markets. The film was remastered
by Janus Films in 35mm format for the release.
on June 30, 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video
. The marketing strategy of the release targeted children and labeled the box "Children's Treasures Present."
Homevision released the film in video, combined with Albert Lamorisse's most well known fantasy-short The Red Balloon
on June 13, 2000.
A laserdisc
of the film was released by The Criterion Collection
in 1986, and was produced by Criterion, Janus Films, and Voyager Press. Included in the disc was Lamorisse's award-winning fantasy-short The Red Balloon
(1956).
The Criterion Collection
released a DVD of the film in 2008.
Nominations
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
filmmaker Albert Lamorisse
Albert Lamorisse
Albert Lamorisse was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer, who is best known for his award winning short films which he began making in the late 1940s, and also for inventing the famous strategic board game Risk in 1957...
.
The forty-seven minute short, filmed on location in the marshes of Camargue
Camargue
The Camargue is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, won numerous awards on its release, including the Short Film Palme d'Or
Short Film Palme d'Or
The Short Film Palme d'Or is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the same jury of the Cinéfondation....
Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. The film also became popular with children and was marketed for them. The story tells a fable of how a young boy gentles an untamable wild white stallion named White Mane.
Plot
In the marshes of Camargue, France, a herd of wild horses roam free. Their leader is a handsome white-haired stallion named White Mane (Crin Blanc in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
).
A group of ranchers capture the wild stallion and place him in a corral. Yet White Mane escapes. A boy named Folco (Alain Emery), who lives with his fisherman grandfather, watches intently as White Mane escapes, and he dreams of one day handling White Mane. The ranchers once again try to capture White Mane and fail. Folco asks the men if he can have the white horse. Yes, says one of the men, "but first you have to catch him, but your fish will grow wings before you can manage that."
Later Folco comes across White Mane in the marshes, and he tries to rope him. However, White Mane gallops and drags Folco in the water for quite a while. Folco refuses to let go of the rope and almost passes out. White Mane relents and the two become friends.
White Mane returns to his herd and another horse challenges him for dominance. White Mane loses the fight and returns to join the boy.
The ranchers return and try to spook White Mane by setting fire to the area he and his herd live in. Folco jumps on White Mane (for the first time) and rides him bareback across the marshes of Camargue, over the sparse dunes to the sea. The ranchers give chase and surround them, but they refuse to be caught. With Folco on his back, White Mane rides into the sea. The film ends as the narrator states that White Mane took Folco to an island where horses and children can be friends forever.
Cast
- Alain Emery as Folco, the boy
- Pierre Bestieux
- Denys Colomb Daunant
- Alain Colomb Daunant
- Charles Fouhetty
- Jean-Pierre Grenie as Narrator (French language)
- Charles Guillaume
- Pascal Lamorisse
- Pierre Moureaux-Nery
- Francois Perie
- Laurent Roche
- Frank SilveraFrank SilveraFrank Alvin Silvera was an American actor and theatrical director.-Career:Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica to a Spanish Jewish father and Jamaican mother. His family later emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston where Silvera attended English High School and Northeastern Law School...
as Narrator (English language) - Les Marshak as Narrator (English language)
The horse
The story is based on real horses that are found in the CamargueCamargue
The Camargue is the region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône....
region in southeast France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. For centuries, possibly thousands of years, these small horses have lived wild in the harsh environment of the wetlands of the Rhône
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
, the Camargue marshes, developing the stamina, hardiness and agility for which they are known today. They are the traditional mount of the gardians – Camargue "cowboys."
Camargue horses galloping through water, as does Crin Blanc in the film, are a popular and romantic image of the region.
Filming locations
The film was shot entirely on location in the southeast region of FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; specifically the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the most populous department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its INSEE and postal code is 13.-History of the department:...
, France, a marsh area located south of Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
, between the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and the two branches of the Rhône river
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
.
Critical reception
The film, since its first release in 1953, has generally received favorable reviews from critics.When the picture was re-released in late 2007 by Janus Films
Janus Films
Janus Films is a film distribution company. It was one of the first distributors to bring what are now regarded as masterpieces of world cinema to the United States...
, the film critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Terrence Rafferty, discussed the film and its importance, writing "[it] is among the world’s most famous and most honored films for children... But kids’ stuff [it is] not... The tone of [the] film is that of open mouthed wonder." In White Mane, Rafferty wrote, "you sense, as in few other films, the real terrors of nature... And Lamorisse, [the] movie show, really was a remarkable artist: one of the cinema’s best poets and a fearless explorer of the scary and exhilarating outbacks of the imagination."
In a review in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, critic Philip Kennicott was cynical about it, yet liked the mise en scène
Mise en scène
Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction...
, writing "there are perfectly worthy reasons to keep [the film] in circulation. Visually, [it is] masterful." However, Kennicott argues that the film takes place in a world of lies. He wrote, "A boy and his horse are hunted down by adult ranchers – while a narrator makes vague promises of a better world to come. The beautiful imagery of [the film] is deployed in support of a moral system – a blunt promise of rewards for good behavior – not much more sophisticated than that of Santa and the Easter Bunny. Ah, the time-honored tradition of adults indoctrinating kids in a world-view that will lead only to bitter disappointment, unless the kids refuse to grow up."
Distribution
A four minute clip of the film is on the rotating list of programming on Classic Arts ShowcaseClassic Arts Showcase
Classic Arts Showcase is a television channel in the United States promoting the fine arts. The television program content includes prepared media and recorded live performances...
, and is often aired on the free cable television channel that promotes the fine arts to the largest audience possible.
In late 2007, the film, along with director Albert Lamorisse's later classic short The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon is a 1956 fantasy short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse.The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris, France.It won numerous awards,...
(1956), was restored and re-released by Janus Films
Janus Films
Janus Films is a film distribution company. It was one of the first distributors to bring what are now regarded as masterpieces of world cinema to the United States...
in limited markets. The film was remastered
Film preservation
thumb|300px|Stacked containers filled with reels of [[film stock]]The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images which they contain...
by Janus Films in 35mm format for the release.
Video and DVD
A version of the film was released in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on June 30, 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
. The marketing strategy of the release targeted children and labeled the box "Children's Treasures Present."
Homevision released the film in video, combined with Albert Lamorisse's most well known fantasy-short The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon is a 1956 fantasy short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse.The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris, France.It won numerous awards,...
on June 13, 2000.
A laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
of the film was released by The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
in 1986, and was produced by Criterion, Janus Films, and Voyager Press. Included in the disc was Lamorisse's award-winning fantasy-short The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon is a 1956 fantasy short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse.The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris, France.It won numerous awards,...
(1956).
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
released a DVD of the film in 2008.
Awards
Wins- Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalThe Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
: Palme d'OrShort Film Palme d'OrThe Short Film Palme d'Or is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the same jury of the Cinéfondation....
, Best Short Film, Albert Lamorisse; 1953. - Prix Jean VigoPrix Jean VigoThe Prix Jean Vigo is an award in the Cinema of France given annually since 1951 to a French film director in homage to Jean Vigo. It was founded by French writer Claude...
: Prix Jean Vigo, Short Film, Albert Lamorisse; 1953.
Nominations
- British Academy of Film and Television ArtsBritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
: BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary Film, France; 1954.
External links
- White Mane at Kiddie Matinee
- White Mane at Janus FilmsJanus FilmsJanus Films is a film distribution company. It was one of the first distributors to bring what are now regarded as masterpieces of world cinema to the United States...
; includes trailer of film